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Do you kill bugs in front of your children?

I try to teach my kids to treat all living creatures with respect, but when a spider or fly gets in the house I take out the fly swatter and...SPLAT! How do I explain that? What do you do when bugs get in your house?

Yes bugs to me aren't the same thing as a bird, dog or cat. I kill flies, mosquitos but we carry spiders outside and release them as they are good for the environment. Flies and Mosquitos are not and carry diseases.

I do what my family did growing up: don't make a big deal out of it. Some times we'd scoot a cricket outside, usually we'd squish spiders and ants. These are bugs. Does an ant lion respect an ant? Does a spider respect a fly? That's nature. Some things are predators, and other things are eaten or squished. Think about people that grew up on farms, having to kill chickens to eat for dinner. Are they cruel for feeding their families? Not any more cruel than a lion is for bringing an ibex to it's cubs or a ferrel cat for bringing a rabbit to it's kittens. That's feeding. Now, when we squish bugs, that's protection. I certainly would not spare a centipede, for example, to discover that it's those kind that bite and sting called a House centipede. It's not as obvious as a bee or scorpion in being "dangerous" or semi dangerous, but it can give a nasty sting, I've read, and some people react badly while others not at all. In my house, all bugs are suspect! Even ants can make you sick, if they got on your food and then you ate it, if you had enough of them. So, how I handle it is, in the cycle of life, my children are superior to insects and they will know it.

Yes bugs to me aren't the same thing as a bird, dog or cat. I kill flies, mosquitos but we carry spiders outside and release them as they are good for the environment. Flies and Mosquitos are not and carry diseases.

I have 3 fly swatters. Actually my dd has her own. It says splat!! Lol yes she knows she is killing a bug.. not it doesn't bug her( no pun intended) as long as is not a bug she likes. Other then that splat they go.

Quoting jenna30:

How do u explain it to your kids?

Quoting .KFeatherable.:

Yes fly swatter with flies! Spiders get the shoe!

Quoting jenna30:

With a fly swatter?

Quoting .KFeatherable.:

Flies and Spiders get a swat! Eck, thinking about spiders now is killing me!

I usually either throw the napkin on them and stomp on it or scoop it in the napkin and throw it in the toilet.

Quoting jenna30:

But you are brave enough to squish them in a napkin? Dont you hate that crunsh?

Quoting FrumpyMama:

Lol!! The only thing we can say we "HATE" and want "DEAD" and can "KILL" in our house are bugs. We had a lot of brown recluse spiders this year from some odd reason. So my son saw me scream "DIE!!!" so many times as I squished them to a pulp in a napkin. I don't want them to be scared of them, but I figure it's better he says it about something that everyone pretty much well hates. lol.

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